December 4, 2024
7:00-8:00 PM
Location: Zoom
This is an archived workshop, meaning it is no longer a live event. You can purchase access to the recording and associated learning materials for this workshop. Once purchased, you will receive an email with the password to access the contents below. If you are a recurring donor of any amount, you receive full access to the catalog of archived Brush Up Workshops.
Workshop Description
Finding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other gender and sexual minority (LGBTQ+) people in the historic past is both important and challenging. By bringing suppressed histories to light, a more complete picture of the past is possible. One of the challenges is that definitions and understandings of what we now call LGBTQ+ identities vary culturally and over time–even over the past generation. By considering this challenge as an opportunity, the potential and relevance of studying LGBTQ+ pasts expands. Beyond individual identities and behaviors (who was in a relationship with who, who identified as transgender, etc.), investigations of LGBTQ+ pasts speak to some of the broad, field-defining themes in historical archaeology. Using place-based examples, in this one-hour virtual workshop we will explore those connections to community studies; social organization; identity formation, expression, and change; marginalization; and oppression and resistance.
About the Instructor
Dr. Megan Springate (she/they) is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland. She received her PhD in Anthropology (2017) from the University of Maryland. Dr. Springate began her career in archaeology at a public archaeology field school outside of Toronto, Canada in 1987, where she earned a Senior Social Science high school credit and fell in love with the field. Since then, she has worked in academia, government, museums, the private sector, and non-profits in archaeology or archaeology-adjacent fields. Dr. Springate is the author of Coffin Hardware in Nineteenth Century America (2014), editor of LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History (National Park Service, 2016), and has published several articles. In 2021, she received the John L. Cotter Award from the Society for Historical Archaeology.
What to Expect
As part of Archaeology in the Community’s Brush Up series of workshops, participants will receive:
- a certificate of completion
- expert instruction and Q&A during the live virtual workshop
- a copy of the presentation slides
- a video recording of the session
- a document of resources and key points
- a short quiz to test understanding